Today’s Tech Sightings: Samsung Develops Emoji-based Chat App for Language Disorders More often than not, people use emojis for fun when they chat. But for those with language disorders like aphasia, which makes reading, writing and talking difficult, emojis might be just the thing to help facilitate communication. To address the gap, Samsung’s Italian subsidiary […]
Emojis Tackle Language Disorders; Parsing Future Tech From Fiction
Posted April 25th, 2017 at 1:52 pm (UTC-5)
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Jury Out on Online Suicide-prevention Tools; ‘TorrentLocker’ Is Back
Posted March 2nd, 2017 at 12:31 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Big Questions Surround Facebook’s Suicide-Prevention Tools Facebook has been ramping up its suicide-prevention tools to include ways to encourage users to report people whose Facebook streams contain signs of self-injury. The person with the perceived suicidal tendencies then sees a message that provides resources for help. Writer Rachel Metz says experts see […]
Instagram Adds Mental Health Support; Teen App Helps Isolated Kids
Posted October 19th, 2016 at 12:49 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Instagram Introduces Support Tool to Anonymously Help Those in Distress Social networking service Instagram is rolling out a new tool that will allow users to reach out to help people suffering from mental health issues who might be in danger of harming themselves. The new feature allows users to alert Instagram to […]
New Group Tackles AI Fears; ‘Brain Chips’ Herald New Computing Era
Posted September 29th, 2016 at 12:17 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Five Tech Giants Team Up to Pacify AI Fears The rapidly-evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised concern either because of fears that robots will take over jobs or because of uncertainty about ethics and best practices, among other issues. The new nonprofit alliance includes Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM, […]
Nigerian Girls to Get Tech Training; Indian Students Take on WhatsApp
Posted September 20th, 2016 at 12:05 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Youth for Technology Foundation to Train 6,000 Nigerian Girls in Technology The Youth for Technology Foundation announced it will train 6,000 Nigerian girls unable to attend school or risk the dangers of human trafficking to use 3-D printing. The training, which was made public during the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting and […]
Drones for Refugees; Tim Cook’s Apple, 5 Years Later
Posted August 24th, 2016 at 1:24 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: How a Former Refugee Uses Drones to Help Others Survive Dangerous Sea Crossings “Drones for Refugees” is a project designed to help rescue workers move swiftly to locate and rescue refugees making the treacherous crossing of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas to a better life. The project was founded by drone expert […]
Dealing With Augmented Reality Cities; Facebook Under Fire Over Ads
Posted August 11th, 2016 at 11:37 am (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Games Will Reshape Cities As the Pokemon GO craze continues unabated, many countries are restricting and zoning urban areas to prevent players from meandering into government sites and other sensitive areas to hunt Pokemon characters. Writer Geoff Manaugh argues that once this game is forgotten, new augmented reality games that place a […]
Pakistan Goes for Robocup Glory; Russia’s New Online Spying Laws
Posted June 27th, 2016 at 9:36 am (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Pakistani Roboteers Hunt Global Soccer Glory For the first time, students at Pakistan’s National University of Science and Technology will participate in the annual RoboCup tournament, held this year in Leipzig, Germany, June 30–July 4. The Pakistani ‘team’ of six humanoid robots was purchased from France, costing about $17,000 each. Russia’s State […]
Qatar 3-D-prints World Cup Stadiums; Google’s ‘Autism Glass’ Project
Posted June 23rd, 2016 at 12:02 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Qatar Uses 3-D Printers to ‘Desert-proof’ World Cup Stadiums Scientists at Qatar University are experimenting with 3-D-printed models of football stadiums to address concerns about summer heat when the country hosts the 2022 World Cup tournament. The researchers hope to test the durability of the models against summer heat and sand and […]